Two weeks in Baltimore: settling in, fixing things, and connecting with friends, family, and colleagues. We quickly got back to work. Isabelle jumped right back into her indexing project, and I reached out to colleagues to catch up on what I missed at Morgan these last few months. We had a great encounter with Morgan's graduating Master of Architecture students, whom we invited over to our house for One Last Goodbye.
Also: replaced a bathroom faucet. This may have been the highpoint of my domestic productivity these last two weeks.
But for now, "Water" is on hiatus. It's now time to move on to my next project, looking at the architecture of campus student religious centers -- in particular, buildings that house campus Hillel foundations.
Here's what I pitched successfully to Arts magazine:
Sectarian Ecumenicalism: the Architecture of Jewish Student Centers on American University Campuses Since the start of the 20th century, the presence of Jewish students on American university campuses required accommodation of their religious practices. Initially, Jewish prayer took place in existing buildings, in some cases designed for worship by Christian students. Eventually, some universities built facilities to serve specifically Jewish religious and social activities. Designs of Jewish Student Centers, including worship spaces but typologically distinct from synagogues, illustrate the intersection between American architecture and Jewish visual culture. Three characteristic examples – at UCSD, Yale, and Duke University – demonstrate differently the “sectarian ecumenicalism” that underlies the design of religious buildings for American Jews. This paper will survey the history “Jewish Student Centers” and will explore examples at Yale and Duke Universities, as well as the planned project at UC San Diego. Yale Slifka Center Duke Freeman Center UCSD Glickman Center
I've already collected interesting information about the history of Jewish organizations at Yale and a weird backstory about anti-Semitic real estate covenants that almost torpedoed the selection of La Jolla for UCSD. Looking forward to spending time also in Yale and Duke's archives to discover what
Isabelle and I leave tomorrow for San Diego; I travel to New Haven next week, and then to Durham on the 2nd of June. At Yale and UCSD, I hope to meet with the building's architects (Harold Roth and Mark Steele, respectively.) I haven't been able to get ahold of the architect for Duke's Freeman Center, but I hope to figure that out before I get there.
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